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Congressman Scott Garrett: A conservative rebel

Posted: Aug. 26, 2006 10:20 am

JOHN BRAND
Herald Senior Writer
Conservative Republicans revere U.S. Rep. Scott Garrett for his refusal to vote for politically popular legislation when he feels it compromises his values or those of the American people.
Garrett is unafraid to break ranks with caucus leaders or President Bush, most recently illustrated by his vote against additional funding for Hurricane Katrina victims. Garrett said the federal government poorly managed the fund, and subsequent independent reports confirmed his suspicions.
"He is one of my heroes. He's a great American," Sparta-based political consultant Rick Shaftan said. "He casts votes for what everybody knows is right but many politicians don't want to do because they're afraid."
He also has his critics, including his Democratic challenger in the November election for the Fifth Congressional District, Paul Aronsohn.
Garrett, R-Wantage, has been called a radical, an extremist and, following his vote against the Voting Rights Act, a bigot. He never seems to waiver, however, even when confronted with harsh words.
"It takes courage to say this is bad legislation even though it has a wonderful title," Assemblyman Guy Gregg, R-Sussex said. "He has the moral and political courage to say this is the right vote that is best for his constituents."
Garrett's anti-conformity stretches back many years, before his two Congressional terms and even before his nine terms as a state Assemblyman.
It can be traced to his years at High Point Regional High School, where Garrett became the scratch that the school's administration couldn't seem to itch. At 16, he challenged its authority via an underground newspaper published from his father's basement and became the de facto Democratic voice for his classmates, who did not always agree with his positions.
Art Smith, the school's superintendent during Garrett's four years, said he remembers Garrett as a precocious teen who uncharacteristically was interested in the Democratic process.
"He'd come to me and say, 'why Mr. Smith are we spending money for this that or the other thing?' It was unusual to explain that type of thing to a student. Now, he's kind of operating the same way. I see him being criticized on Katrina aid, but he was challenging them on how they were going to spend the money," Smith said.
The newspaper, "The High Pointer," had the makings of a fairly well-organized amateur paper, with sections for letters-to-the-editor, commentary, cartoons and even paid ads solicited from local businesses.
During a recent sit-down at the Hampton Diner, Garrett, now 47, reflected on his high school days, saying he was the only member of the student body who would attend school board meetings, ask questions about how money was being spent and then write about it freely in the paper, of which he was editor-in-chief.
"I wanted to make sure we were getting good public education and that the student's voice was being heard," Garrett said.
Smith, however, said the newspaper made the administration uncomfortable, and its worst fears were confirmed when the March edition of The High Pointer included an anonymous letter-to-the-editor that criticized a high school athletic coach, and a Garrett-authored commentary asking what a high school adviser "was being paid to do."
According to the April edition of The High Pointer, Garrett and his "staff' suffered an ugly fallout with the administration between March and April. The school's principal forbade Garrett and the others from distributing the paper from inside the building, forcing them to stand out in the cold.
"The administration used to get uptight with things like that," Smith said. "Schools in those days were like benevolent dictatorships. We did not want to offend the parents or the public."
The school even threatened to sue over the commentary and anonymous letter and went as far as to reach out to local businesses and ask them to no longer pay for advertising. The High Pointer lost two advertisers, and retained one.
Rather than succumb to the pressure, Garrett, a 16-year-old farmboy from Wantage, fired back.
"Freedom of Press Is Attacked," reads the headline of the April 1976 issue.
He called out his high school principal in the article, informing the student body that he personally gave a copy of the March issue -- which included the controversial commentary and anonymous letter -- to the principal several days before distributing it.
"He did not read any part of it entirely," Garrett wrote in the issue, referring frequently to himself in the third person.
He added that the principal, "told Scott that he thought the paper 'was a disgrace' and put these two persons 'in a position of ridicule,'" the article reads. The principal told Garrett he encouraged the two teachers to pursue legal action, hence the headline about free speech.
The principal's criticism about the paper was not the only salvo fired Garrett's way, and it's clear on the type-written pages of The High Pointer that Garrett was willing to air the harsh words of his fellow classmates in the spirit of the First Amendment.
"We are writing with concern for the way you continually criticize the Student Council," reads one letter-to-the-editor written by Student Council members for the April 1976 issue. "We realize that you were hurt and/or spiteful when the student body did not elect you as president of the council.
"That is not just cause, however, for harassing and putting down those who did make council and are trying their best."
Garrett said his father was a big financial supporter of the paper, having started one himself as a student in Hoboken, Hudson County. He likely helped Garrett pay for an ad in that edition that reads, "Paid for by the Scott Garrett Defense Fund for a Free Press."
Today, Garrett is somewhat demure and shy when it comes to his personal life. But he is quick with dry, sarcastic jokes that take some getting used to before understanding his humor.
Asked what he likes most about the job, he at first offers, "Talking with reporters," before explaining that solving the real problems of real people gives him the greatest satisfaction.
Despite the fact that his experiences as a student in a public school clearly influenced his personality today, Garrett has chosen to home-school his children and has supported a school voucher program that, critics say, are proof he is not a supporter of public schools.
The decision to home school his children was one made by he and his wife to give their daughters a strong, Christian upbringing.
A member of the Lafayette Federated Church, Garrett said he rediscovered his faith after having his two girls, who are now teenagers.
He admits that his religion and his upbringing on a Sussex County farm influence his political views.
"All aspects of how you're raised -- where you come from and your faith -- play into how you look at issues today," he said. "Growing up in a rural farm environment leads me to pursue issues regarding open space and farmland preservation.
"Your faith leads you to look to do what you can to help raise up your community."
The criticism has become a customary part of his political life and certainly something he unknowingly prepared himself for while running the underground newspaper. But the words cut deeper more now than ever as his family suffers the backlash.
"Somebody once told me that the criticism is harder on the spouses and kids than on the candidates," he said. "People will attack the candidate and the candidate will bear it, but the spouses and kids have no recourse."
Still, he offers no apologies for the ideological beliefs he holds dear or the votes he cast that he believes are the right ones.
"He started at an early age, challenging things most other students didn't bother with," Smith said. "But he was always polite.
"In my opinion, he's one of the few honest politicians out there, and I respect that. There are too many people in politics that shouldn't be, and I can't say that about Scott."

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